By Rachel Dixon, The Guardian

Escapism

An Lam Ninh Van Bay eco-lodge on Vietnam’s south-east coast. (The Guardian)

Accessible only by boat, An Lam Ninh Van Bay is a remote eco-lodge, hidden by forested hills and rocky outcrops, on Vietnam’s south-east coast. With just 35 secluded villas, it’s one for privacy seekers looking for an unspoilt natural hideaway with creature comforts on tap.

Accommodation

Stay in unexpected comfort in a beach hut at Hele Bay in Ilfracombe, north Devon. The 26 pastel-painted lodges look like traditional seaside huts from the outside, but have double glazing and central heating, plus mod cons such as iPod docking stations, kitchens and en suite bathrooms. All huts have a patio and some have a hot tub.

Transport

Holidaymakers in southern Italy have a new way to travel this summer: by jet capsule taxi boat. The seven-metre-long seven-seater space-age-looking pods whiz through the waters around Naples and the resorts of the Amalfi coast, offering a fast, fun (but rather pricey) way of getting around.

Activity

The Sarojin, one of Thailand’s top “green” resorts, is offering new Day in the Life of a Local tours, with the chance to experience daily life in the Khao Lak area by shadowing fishermen, working with mahouts or joining monks and fruit famers at work.

Culture watch

Hoping to emulate the success of pioneering outdoor art projects such as Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Sands, three huge public art installations have arrived in the Nene Valley in Northamptonshire. Called Changing Tracks, it includes railway lines that extend 12 metres into the air.

Read the full article by Rachel Dixon from The Guardian.

From Bangkok Post

HANOI – On a summer evening in central Hanoi, 22-year-old Son relaxes with his girlfriend as their pet poodle Bean plays on the grass among a menagerie of dogs including huskies, a Doberman and a pitbull-mix.

A boy sits next to his dog at a street in Hanoi, Vietnam Aug 18. Vietnam’s pet industry is booming — more dog trainers and groomers are opening across the country, with some online dog clubs attracting thousands of members. (EPA photo)

“Lots of people bring their dogs here,” says Son, a driver. “In the afternoon it’s cool and Bean likes to swim in the pond.”

Son is among a rising number of pet owners in Vietnam, where dogs are more traditionally used for their meat. That tradition is coming under some scrutiny, but seems not be holding back the growth of the pet sector.

The first pet store opened in Saigon in 2006; now there are around 50 there and dozens in Hanoi, says Wayne Capriotto, director of marketing agency Digi-escape Vietnam, which focuses on the up-and-coming pet sector.

“A lot of people have these dogs and want to show them off, that’s the new generation of wealth, but there’s the companionship too,” he says.

Bean cost Son around $75, not so expensive for a pedigree. But looking after the dog is cheap, apart from the occasional splurge. “I spend up to $25 getting him groomed,” his owner says.

As disposable incomes rise, dogs and cats are becoming status symbols, especially Western breeds, and being treated more like members of the family.

One man harnessing this trend is 34-year-old Texan Ricky Forester, who founded training school Alpha Dog in the capital two years ago, and has moved to bigger premises twice to keep up with demand.

“When I first started, everyone told me there wasn’t high-enough demand, people weren’t going to appreciate the service. Of course they were completely wrong,” he says. “People are really, really turning towards more of a dog-loving society instead of keeping them locked in cages or on chains.”

But Vietnam is still a nation of dog eaters. Every year around 5 million animals are slaughtered for the trade, according to the Asia Canine Protection Alliance. Many are strays captured from rural areas, often from neighbouring countries, or stolen, with dog thefts getting increasing coverage in local media.

Read the full article from Bangkok Post.

By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes

The Ho Tram Strip needs to expand its reach to foreign guests eligible to gamble at Vietnam’s first world class integrated resort. It can also use a known hotel brand and better connections to junkets. To complete the obligation under its gaming license to invest $4 billion, Ho Tram’s developer Asian Coast Development Limited (ACDL) needs access to capital. It seems to have checked the right boxes with a new investor who co-founded one of the largest hotel chains in Asia as well as a major Macau junket group.

New investor Chien Lee won’t just just rearrange deck chairs at Vietnam’s The Grand-Ho Tram Strip. (Forbes)

Chien Lee helped create 7 Days Group, a chain of budget hotels with 2,000 properties in 300 Asian cities and also established Asia Entertainment and Resources Ltd, now known as Iao Kun Group, which promotes VIP rooms at Galaxy Macau, StarWorld, Sands Cotai Central, City of Dreams and Le Royal Arc, a downtown casino under SJM’s license. Though no longer involved in daily operations of those businesses, Lee believes his experience can bring more guests to The Grand – Ho Tram, which opened a year ago as the first of the four resorts envisioned for the 400 acre seaside site, two hours south of Saigon. The Grand has 541 five-star rooms and 90 tables, 35 on the main floor and 55 in its VIP areas. Only foreign passport holders can enter the casino.

The amount of Lee’s investment, through a US vehicle called NewCity Capital, has not been disclosed. ACDL is majority owned by Phil Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners, with an additional $110 million investment from US regional gaming operator Pinnacle Entertainment, which completely wrote down its stake last year, after delays in the opening and MGM Resorts International’s cancelation of its contract to manage the resort that’s now The Grand.

“This is a hidden diamond,” Lee says of the resort, which also boasts a Greg Norman designed golf course to go along with its mile and a quarter of beachfront. “It just needs someone to uncover it.” Lee believes the market where it can shine brightest is mainland China, where he was born before moving to the US 30 years ago.

The Grand has struggled to get traction with Macau junkets, but Lee will help it reach out to the trade, starting with Iao Kun Group, where he retains the title of special adviser. “I plan to use my network to help Ho Tram build up a relationship with all Macau promoters,” Lee says in a phone interview. “Ho Tram is different from Macau, it’s beautiful. Junkets want products for different tastes, products that offer different experiences.”

Read the full article by Muhammad Cohen from Forbes.

By Lien Hoang, Voice of America

SAIGON — The top U.S. military officer traveled to Vietnam last week to help strengthen regional security at a time when Vietnamese fear armed conflict with China over maritime disputes.

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey reviews the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in Hanoi, Aug. 14, 2014. (Voice of America)

The visit by Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, increased prospects that the United States may soon scrap its weapons embargo on Vietnam. But at the same time, Dempsey tempered hopes of heightened military cooperation with a message that Asia should not look to the United States when it clashes with China.

“I think fundamentally we would all agree that a stronger ASEAN response, which is to say a stronger multinational response, is really what’s appropriate — not necessarily, what does the United States intend to do about it,” Dempsey told a small gathering of reporters here Saturday, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

At issue for Vietnam and China is a swath of water and islands in the South China Sea claimed by both countries as well as four others. Despite repeating the official line that the United States doesn’t “take sides in territorial disputes,” Dempsey mostly referred to the area using the term preferred by Vietnamese, the East Sea. The Philippines, another claimant nation, calls the waters the West Philippine Sea.

Dempsey said that if the weapons ban is repealed, the United States should start by boosting Vietnam’s navy. He noted that Vietnamese military officials haven’t been specific enough as to what hardware they need, but said the two countries are discussing “patrol boats or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets,” as well as “even potentially some weapons for their fleet that they currently don’t have.”

“There’s a growing sense among our elected officials by our administration, by non-governmental organizations, that Vietnam has made progress against the limitations that led to the lethal weapon ban,” Dempsey said, speaking at the American Center, a cultural and educational annex to the consulate in Saigon.

Jonathan London, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong, had a mixed reaction to Dempsey’s remarks.

“The lifting of the arms embargo could be welcome, perhaps, in that it allows Vietnam to be more capable in addressing its security needs,” London said. But he worried that the feuding in the South China Sea “is leading to the militarization of the entire region, an arms race.”

Read the full story by Lien Hoang from Voice of America.